Under pressure from customers and stakeholders, Broadcom is relaxing its VCSP policies. The changes are not structural and the company continues to present them in a good news program.

Broadcom is relaxing guidelines for VMware Cloud Service Providers (VCSPs). They were very upset about the completion of Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware. Large parties were able to continue their work, but many smaller VCSPs had to either quit or sign up for a white label program built on the services of the parties, which were allowed to remain VCSPs. Partners of many years fell by the wayside. CISPE previously criticized Broadcom’s practices as anti-cloud practices and described them as near-extortion.

Compensation

Now Broadcom is hoping to make some changes to address some of the vulnerabilities. Broadcom once again decides to silence any form of legitimate criticism and point to the success of the new strategy. In any case, the result is a modified program that takes the problems of smaller VCSPs into account to some extent. The following things are new:

• The VMware Cloud Service Provider Premier Tier is being expanded: Even partners who do not have sufficient scalability but have a lot of VMware knowledge and satisfied customers can gain access and thus remain members of the VCSP program. Broadcom will pay particular attention to applicants from regions with unique legislation, such as the UK and EEA. This adjustment appears to be the most direct response to criticism from Europe.
• VCSP partners receive broader access to white label services: Those who are still excluded from the classic VCSP program can offer services more quickly through another partner.
• Longer transition period: Anyone who took part in the VCSP program and now has to offer services through a white label partner has more time to decide about the future. At the end of this month (May 31), these VMware partners will have to decide whether to move to white label services or quit.
• Continuity for those who quit: Organizations that have had enough and leave the VCSP program will be given more time to do so in an orderly manner. Broadcom is pushing the deadline back to April 2025.

Band-aid for partners, irrelevant for customers

The adjustments give VCSPs a little more breathing room, but for many this is a blanket for bleeding. Only the exceptional measure to enter the Premier Tier can provide structural relief. The fact is that Broadcom turns away loyal partners because they lack sufficient scale. In addition, the above adjustments affect Broadcom’s so-called partners, through which the company brings VMware solutions to the market. This problem is independent of the immense license increases for customers worldwide.